VAN HITS RAIL PILLAR, ONE DEAD

A 27-year-old man died as the van he was driving hit a Metro Rail pillar in LB Nagar on Saturday. Police said Saidulu lost control over the wheel as he might have fallen asleep. This is the third incident in the last 10 days of vehicles crashing into Metro pillars. Three people died in the accidents.

Basavapuram Saidulu, hailing from Khammam district was driving the van. On Friday night, he started from Khammam with reapers for a scrap godown in Chaderghat. Around 4 am, while he was driving along the LB Nagar—Dilsukhnagar road, he lost control.

The vehicle hit the Metro median and crashed into a pillar located on the road opposite the D-Mart mall. “The cabin was totally crushed and he was stuck in it. With the help of a crane, we dismantled the cabin and retrieved his body,” LB Nagar SI Maraiah said.

Forensic experts who conducted the autopsy on Saidulu’s body said there was no trace of alcohol in his blood. An accidental death case was registered and the body eas handed over after autopsy.

In another mishap on Monday, a car driven by an inspector of the Telangana CounterIntelligence Cell crashed into a Metro Rail pillar in Chaitanyapuri. Inspector Surepally Venkateshwarlu was injured in the mishap.

It was in a similar mishap on May 10 that AP minister P. Narayana’s son Nishith and his friend K. Raja Ravichandra were killed. The Mercedes SUV they were travelling in crashed into a Metro rail pillar in Jubilee Hills.